


all kisses are metaphors

by colazitron



Series: 2018 December Holiday Fic Countdown [2]
Category: SKAM (Norway)
Genre: Cabin Fic, F/F, Fluff, Future Fic, There's only One Bed!
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-02
Updated: 2018-12-02
Packaged: 2019-09-05 22:41:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,584
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16819888
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/colazitron/pseuds/colazitron
Summary: Noora and Eva go up to Tromsø so Noora can photograph the Northern Lights. But what is this?! There's only one bed!





	all kisses are metaphors

**Author's Note:**

> **Disclaimer:** I am in no way affilaited with these characters or their creators. I made this up and am sharing it for fun.
> 
> **A/N:** for anon who asked for nooreva and there only being one bed
> 
> this also fits the evakteket skamenger hunt prompt "northern lights"

The red paint is peeling off the cabin a little, but Noora isn't paying any attention to that. Instead she stands, seemingly transfixed by her surroundings. Her nose barely peeks out between her scarf and the brim of her hat, but Eva can see her eyes glitter with excitement anyway.

“Wow,” Noora says. “I can't believe we're here.”

Eva kind of can't believe it either, but mostly because because she's never had to put on snow chains and then drive 50 minutes into the wilderness outside or Tromsø. She tried her best to project an air of confidence to the guy at the car rental place, rubbed the wrong way by the way he'd treated them like dumb city girls. The problem is really that Eva kind of is a dumb city girl when it comes to cars. At least she's not had much experience with the kind of driving where you're not always 100% sure where the road is.

Still, that's probably not what Noora means, so.

“Yeah,” Eva says, and goes to grab their bags from the boot of the car. Noora comes over to help, but Eva waves her off.

“I got it. Go unlock the door and find the heating.”

Noora gives a little salute and Eva finds her heart melting at the sight of the wide excited beam on her face.

When Noora booked this trip it was meant to be a romantic New Year's get-away for her and William. Of course that was six months ago, two months before Noora found out he'd been cheating on her with several girls in London while she finished up her degree in Oslo. For half a second Eva and the others had feared Noora would let William talk her into giving them yet another go, that a romantic getaway was just what they'd need to reignite their spark, but ultimately, Noora had moved out of their apartment and cut off all contact.

The trip, however, had already been paid for – by William, but under Noora's name. Noora had wanted to cancel, but also hadn't wanted to deal with cancellation fees and making sure William got his money back. So Eva had simply suggested she go anyway. Bring a friend. Take those photos of the northern lights she was always talking about wanting to take.

“Who's going to want to spend New Year's with me in the middle of nowhere north of the Arctic Circle instead of partying here in Oslo?” Noora had asked with a sigh.

Eva still remembers exactly the soft shape of Noora's smile when she lifted her hand.

“Me?”

So now here they are.

Eva's got Noora's camera bag slung over her shoulder to make sure she won't drop it, and grabs their bags to follow Noora inside.

It's still cold inside the cabin, but Noora has already turned the thermostat up and is currently trying to light a fire in the tile oven.

“The bedroom's through there,” Noora says and points at a door leading off from the kitchen. Eva nods her thanks and sets the bags down so she can take off her boots and avoid dragging snow all across the cabin. It's small, but very cosy-looking. She can definitely see how this would have made a great romantic getaway.

There's no one else around for many kilometers and they're right on the fjord. And when Eva does make it into the bedroom, there's only one bed.

Obviously.

It's not a large bed either.

Noora sidles up to her and takes her bag from Eva's grip and then walks around the bed to the far side of it to set her things down.

“Do you want me to go see if the couch pulls out?” Eva suggests, half on autopilot, because all she can think about is that she hasn't shared a bed with Noora in years and certainly never while she felt like this about her.

All messed up and nervous-excited butterflies.

Fuck.

“I don't think it'll be much bigger,” Noora says. “And I'm sure the heat'll kick in in a bit, so it won't be too cold in here.”

That's not what Eva meant, and when Noora looks up at her, she must see that on her face or something, because she puts her hands on her hips and levels Eva with a look that's severely disappointed.

“Honestly, Eva. Don't be ridiculous. We've shared beds this size between the five of us.”

_But that was when we were kids and I wasn't in love with you_ , Eva wants to protest but.

Right.

Don't be ridiculous, Eva.

Eva doesn't say anything, in the end. Just smiles and shrugs and sets her bag down, then goes back out into the main area of the cabin to take care of the groceries they brought.

After a bit, Noora joins her, bringing her bluetooth speakers and her phone, and soon enough they're chopping vegetables side by side and Eva forgets to try and fight down her grin.

Spending time with Noora has always been great, but after the third time Noora and William got back together Eva hasn't been able to hide how bad of an idea she thought it was anymore. And it became… a point of contention, between them. For a while, Eva thought she'd lose Noora over this and it was only very many long nights and a few too many bottles of rosé that led her to realise just why she was so terrified of that idea.

Somehow, somewhen, without Eva noticing, Noora became a fixture in her plans for the future.

When Noora moved out of their shared flat to live with William, Eva always assumed she'd come back, sooner or later. Her and William never lasted. William was in London so much more than he was in Oslo. Noora would get bored by herself in that large empty place. Of course she would. And she'd come back to Eva, as she always did.

Right?

When instead the tension between her and Noora had grown along with the tension between her and William, Eva spiralled a bit. She can admit that.

But here now, in this cosy little cabin with Noora in thick wool socks and thermal leggings, a thick woollen jumper pulled down over her fingers while she clutches a mug of hot tea… Eva almost forgets about that.

They eat their stew in front of the tiled stove, huddled closely side-by-side to steal as much warmth as they can.

“Thank you for coming with me,” Noora says into the quiet.

Eva shoots her a bemused look and nudges her in the side.

“Nowhere else I'd rather be.”

“Now that's a blatant lie,” Noora teases with a laugh.

Eva laughs as well, but then sets her empty bowl down and crosses her legs over Noora's.

“No, I promise. Not right now.”

Noora's eyes go a bit shiny, but she doesn't say anything, so Eva only settles against her side.

After dinner, they wrap the large duvet from the bed around them both and settle down on cushions by the huge glass doors at the back of the cabin with the view of the fjord and, more importantly, the night sky.

They don't see any lights that night, but the light in Noora's eyes doesn't dim, and when they get into bed, they huddle close for warmth, Noora curled around Eva's back, one arm between her and the mattress and the other one slung over her waist. Noora's face pressed between Eva's shoulder blades. Noora's knees tucked up tight behind Eva's.

Eva's heart beats frantically and she makes herself take a deep breath and sigh it out. This isn't about her, it's about warmth. She can be a non-creepy friend and just sleep.

Noora pulls the duvet up over them so far Eva thinks she must all but vanish underneath it, but she doesn't say anything about it. She hopes Noora's not thinking about how she was going to be here with William. Instead, she tangles her fingers with Noora's, and then squeezes them.

“Good night.”

“G'night,” Noora mumbles back, and Eva's pretty sure she can hear her smile. She turns her own smile into the pillow that's warming under her cheek and lets sleep carry her off.

  


They spend the morning of their first full day at the cabin trekking through the snow a bit, walking up and down along the fjord but never far enough away that they can't still see their cabin. They could join one of the many organised tours around, but they'd have to get into the car and back into Tromsø for it, and neither of them are really feeling that.

It's odd, being up here where there sun doesn't even really rise this time of year. It gets a little lighter around noon, but nothing beyond the grey of twilight. Of course Eva knew that before they came, but she's never actually been this far up north at this time of year, so it's still an odd thing to experience.

But it means that after lunch Noora can take her time setting up her camera out on the little pier behind the cabin while Eva makes them large mugs of piping hot tea.

“I thought this time was different for a long time,” Noora says eventually.

“This time?” Eva asks, handing Noora her tea and slotting up close beside her. They're both wrapped up in all their winter gear, but there's something about standing close that makes it feel warmer. Maybe it's just the illusion of body heat, but Eva's going to take what heat she can get.

“With William,” Noora says. “I thought, you know. We're older now. He's going to be 26 soon. This is it. This time it's going to last and it's going to be the love story of the ages.”

She sighs to herself, staring off into the darkness and Eva feels her heart pinch.

“Oh, you know that was always going to be Isak and Even,” she teases, nudging Noora gently with her elbow.

Noora laughs.

“Yeah, you're right,” she says. “I thought it was going to be Jonas and you too, you know? Eventually.”

This time Eva laughs.

“We've been broken up for almost five years!”

“Yeah, but it just seemed so perfect. You'd be with Jonas and I'd be with William and we'd stay friends until we're grey and old and our kids or grandkids would get married.”

“Well, sorry to disappoint,” Eva says, and laughs when Noora rolls her eyes at her.

“No, I'm not disappointed. So long as we stay friends until we're grey and old, I don't care about boys,” she declares.

Eva makes herself laugh again, and links her arm with Noora's, raising her mug of tea for a toast.

“To no boys.”

Noora clacks their mugs together and laughs.

“No boys,” she agrees.

  


The bed hasn't gotten any bigger, and though the cabin has gotten a lot warmer, Noora still spoons up close behind Eva. Eva's not about to complain. Instead she lets her body melt into Noora's, and falls asleep again.

  


On their second full day, Noora finally gets her shot of the Lights.

They are, Eva has to admit, more stunning than she imagined. Sure, they do always look great in photos but in person? It's like a gossamer thin veil made of purple and green and turquoise dust, dancing across the sky like it's caught by just the slightest breeze.

“Oh wow. It's beautiful,” Noora breathes beside her, and Eva hears the shutter of her camera go off.

“Yeah,” she agrees, mesmerised by the display of light and--- she doesn't even know what it is, how it works. It looks like magic. It _feels_ like magic. “Yeah, it's amazing.”

S he doesn't know how many photos Noora takes, how many times she adjusts the tripod with her camera on to get a different angle. How long the spectacle lasts.  It could be ten minutes, it could be hours. It feels like an age when Eva finally lowers her head and  catches Noora looking at her.

“What?” Eva asks and grins. She probably looks like a kid on Christmas. That's about how giddy she feels, at least. “Shouldn't you be looking at the lights?”

Noora shakes her head.

“I wanted to look at you,” she says.

Eva huffs a nervous laugh. What in the world is that supposed to mean?

“I want to tell you something. Why things between me and William got so tense.”

Eva blinks in surprise and then nods.

“Okay.”

Noora takes a huge breath and Eva watches the steam of it curl up in front of Noora's face when she exhales again.

“I realised that… it's you and me, Eva. When I thought about the future, you were always in it,” she says.

Eva suddenly feels rooted to the spot, the pier, the fjord, the aurora forgotten. All she can see is Noora rubbing her lips together thoughtfully.

“William too, of course, but you… even more. I couldn't imagine leaving Oslo, because I'd be leaving you. And how were our kids and grandkids going to be friends if they didn't even live in the same country?” Noora says and then laughs a little. She rubs a mittened hand over her forehead and then pulls her hat back down, shoulders hunched against the cold, or maybe against nerves.

“William kept pushing me to come join him in London – he got this great job offer there, but I kept putting it off and finally told him I wasn't ready to leave Oslo and my friends. But I meant you, and he knew, kind of. We had that big fight and soon after he started seeing that girl.”

“Noora. I'm sorry,” Eva says. It seems like the thing to say.

“No, don't be sorry. I'd do it again,” Noora says with a shrug. “It's you and me, right? Till we're grey and old.”

Eva nods numbly.

“Yeah, of course. How else are our grandkids going to be friends, right?”

She's trying to joke, but it comes out a little weak. It feels so big, that she's this important to Noora.

“They could just be our grandkids,” Noora says, her eyes wide and vulnerable.

Eva freezes. She was already rooted to her spot, but now it's like her whole body goes numb, leaves her without tether, ears ringing with the suggestion in Noora's statement. She can't-- she can't mean--

“Eva,” Noora says and steps closer to take Eva's hands. “Eva, I'm in love with you.”

Eva hears herself gasp, and tightens her grip on Noora's hands.

“Please say you mean that.”

“Of course I mean that,” Noora says, like she's a little offended, but there's a confused smile on her face so Eva leans in close, hat-covered forehead to hat-covered forehead.

“Me too,” she says, quietly. “I'm in love with you too.”

Noora's face is cold when Eva nuzzles closer and their scarves get in the way of trying to kiss, but it doesn't matter, because Noora only laughs at it and wraps her arms around Eva in a hug pressing close to her.

When they go to sleep, the bed is still not very large, but it might as well be an entire ocean for all that Eva cares. Noora slots up against her back, close and tight and definitely smiling, and when she says goodnight, she presses a kiss to Eva's back.

That's all Eva cares about.

  


** The End **


End file.
